Gettin’ Swiggy With It: Naspers, Tencent Raise $1B For Food Startup

Naspers, a large South African-based technology investor, is leading a $1 billion funding round for food delivery outfit Swiggy, according to a report.

Chinese investor and tech giant Tencent also joined in the round. Tencent’s participation is not surprising, considering Naspers was an early investor in the company. The South African company has so far led three rounds of funding.

There are new investors as well. Those include Wellington Management Company and Hillhouse Capital. Other investors have provided funding in previous rounds, such as DST Global, Coatue Management and Meituan-Dianping.

The news means that Swiggy, which is based in India, is involved in the biggest investment in a food company ever, outside of China. Other companies that have raised a billion include Flipkart, Paytm and OYO.

Swiggy was started in 2014. The company says it works with 50,000 eateries in 50 Indian cities, which is up from 35,000 restaurants six months ago. It also claims that its GMV has doubled.

Swiggy wants to use the new funding to hire machine learning-knowledgeable workers, engineers and employees who can advance the company’s AI tech for improving discovery and matching in the service.

There are a few competitors in India vying for the title of most popular food delivery startup, including Zomato, Foodpanda and Uber Eats.

Swiggy has raised $1.26 billion since its inception and had a $1.3 billion valuation in June. It has not revealed its newest valuation, but the Economic Times said it was $3.3 billion. This would mean that Swiggy has quintupled its value this year.

Swiggy CEO Sriharsha Majety said he’s focused on giving people the best experience with his company. “Swiggy has been at the forefront of elevating the potential of Indian food delivery with its industry-changing innovations and focus on delivering the best consumer experience to millions of Indians,” he said.